Four men have been sentenced to life in prison for importing cocaine and hashish via air mail from Nigeria, concealed inside a shipment of ladies’ handbags.
The High Criminal Court found the Nigerians guilty of transporting and possessing the narcotics with intention to sell them for profit, fined them BD5,000 each and ruled to deport them once they have completed their sentences.
The smuggling attempt was noticed by customs officers during screening of incoming packages, becoming immediately suspicious of a package containing six women’s bags each stuffed with a powdered material.
Two policemen went undercover as employees of a well-known American shipping company to deliver the parcel to one of the defendants, a 48-year-old salesman who lived in Salmaniya.
“After conducting investigations and tracking the person to whom the package was addressed, we went to the third defendant’s place of residence,” a policeman earlier testified.
“Outside the building, we saw the first and second defendants checking the area, and they appeared to be acting suspiciously,” he said of the 49-year-old businessman and 29-year-old investor.
“They then called the third defendant, asking him to come downstairs as his door was locked.
“While they were waiting, they detected a police presence so they decided to flee, but another officer tracked them down and arrested them.”
During a search of the men, officers found keys to an apartment that the first and second defendants shared.
“We requested a warrant to search the residence, and inside, we found the fourth defendant.”
In the apartment, authorities found 50 capsules containing a white-coloured, powdered substance later tested to be cocaine and a transparent bag containing herbal material, identified as marijuana.
Anti-Narcotics Directorate officers were tasked to go undercover to deliver the package to the third defendant and were given a replica to hand to him.
“We dressed up as UPS employees, and the defendant came to get the parcel, and he was arrested once he signed the receipt,” an officer told the court.
He added that BD535 and 1,000 Saudi riyals were found in a drawer in the Nigerian’s bedroom, along with a sensitive scale.
“The defendant stated that he received the parcel on behalf of his accomplice, the first defendant, and was to be paid BD50 in return.”
According to the Public Prosecution, the first and second defendant admitted to ordering the cocaine for the third defendant, under the orders of an unidentified individual, with the purpose of re-selling the narcotic outside of Bahrain.
A search of the 49-year-old businessman’s phone yielded photographs, videos and text messages involving narcotics and their sale.
“The court is content with the evidence provided, and believes that it leaves no space to doubt that the incident occurred in the way that it is narrated in the documents,” read the verdict.
“The defence’s arguments did not bring anything to the table that would change the court’s decision.”
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